Advertising and Promotion Management Commons^™

Political Costs And Strategic Corporate Communication, Christine Cuny, Jungbae Kim, Mihir N. Mehta

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

When subject to public scrutiny, do firms strategically use advertising to reduce expected political costs? Advertising can ease public concerns, thereby reducing the pressure on politicians to act harshly against scrutinized firms and their industries. We use repeated congressional testimony by industry members as a novel way to identify political scrutiny. Our central finding is that scrutinized industries increase their advertising spending 132 percent more in the electorates of politicians overseeing the hearings than in the electorates of other politicians. Further, strategic advertising is complementary to income-decreasing accounting choices and a substitute for lobbying. Overall, our study sheds light on …

Riding Attention Spikes: How Analysts Respond To Advertising, Minjae Koo, Annika Yu Wang, Yin Wang, Liandong Zhang

Research Collection School Of Accountancy

Product market advertising, while containing little new information, triggers spikes in investor attention. Using weekly advertising data, we find that sell-side analysts issue optimistic earnings forecasts in response to heavier advertising in the prior week. This effect is not driven by confounding earnings or product news. It is more pronounced for experienced analysts and analysts affiliated with brokerages relying solely on trading revenues. The optimistic forecast bias intensifies the impact of advertising on investor trades, especially on retail buying, of the underlying stock during the following week. Overall, analysts appear to issue optimistic forecasts to exploit retail investor attention spikes …

The Token-Effort Effect: Trivial Redemption Effort Increases Price Promotions Effectiveness, Kuangjie Zhang, Thomas Allard, Nidhi Agrawal, Rajesh Bagchi

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This research documents how introducing redemption tasks requiring a token (i.e., trivial) amount of effort—for instance, by asking the consumer to enter a promo code or solve a CAPTCHA to receive a discount—increases price promotion effectiveness compared with equivalent straight discounts (i.e., applied automatically). Eight studies (including two field experiments) and three additional Web Appendix studies provide robust evidence for the beneficial effect of token-effort requirements on redemption rates. This effect occurs because the easy-to-attain redemption task induces a high perceived return on effort. Thus, this effect only occurs when the redemption task requires token-type effort but not when it …

Can Lower(Ed) Expert Opinions Lead To Better Consumer Ratings?: The Case Of Michelin Stars, Xingyi Li, Yiting Deng, Puneet Manchanda, Bert De Reyck

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Expert opinion exerts tremendous influence on the purchase journey, but its effect on overall consumer experience is ambiguous because it can give rise to both “expectation” and “reputation” effects. This paper explores the effect of expert opinions on consumer experience via the lens of consumer reviews in the restaurant industry, where the expert opinions are conveyed by Michelin stars. The paper uses a unique data set based on the Michelin Guide for Great Britain & Ireland from 2010 to 2020. The data include consumer reviews on TripAdvisor for all restaurants that were awarded Michelin stars during this period and a …

Increasing The Acceptance Of Cultivated Meat, Mark Chong

Asian Management Insights

Factors to consider when designing communication strategies for diverse nations.

More Voices Persuade: The Attentional Benefits Of Voice Numerosity, Hannah H. Chang, Anirban Mukherjee, Amitava Chattopadhyay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The authors posit that in an initial exposure to a broadcast video, hearing different voices narrate (in succession) a persuasive message encourages consumers’ attention and processing of the message, thereby facilitating persuasion; this is referred to as “the voice numerosity effect.” Across four studies (plus validation and replication studies)—including two large-scale, real-world datasets (with more than 11,000 crowdfunding videos and over 3.6 million customer transactions, and more than 1,600 video ads) and two controlled experiments (with over 1,800 participants)—the results provide support for the hypothesized effect. The effect (1) has consequential, economic implications in a real-world marketplace, (2) is more …

Does Disclosure Of Advertising Spending Help Investors And Analysts?, Sungkyun Moon, Kapil R. Tuli, Anirban Mukherjee

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Publicly listed firms have the discretion to disclose (or not) advertising spending in their annual (10-K) reports. The disclosure of advertising spending can provide valuable information because advertising is a leading indicator of future performance. However, estimates of advertising spending are available from data providers, arguably mitigating the need for its formal disclosure. This study argues that firms’ disclosure of advertising spending provides more complete and public information and therefore lowers investor uncertainty about future firm performance (idiosyncratic risk). Empirical analyses show this effect is largely driven by the negative effect of disclosure of advertising spending on analyst uncertainty. Consistent …

Social Acceptance Vital To Success Of Novel Food Technologies, Mark Chong, Mark Chong

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In a joint commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Communication Management (Practice) Mark Chong and Andrew Powell , CEO of Asia BioBusiness Pte Ltd, discussed how social acceptance is vital to the success of novel food technologies. They also explained how companies should be guided by the science of risk perception and behavioural science, and why a risk communication and engagement strategy is an essential component of risk management.

The Effect Of Psychological Distance On Online Advertising: A Case Study Of Video Enrollment Advertisement Of Colleges, Xian He

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Advertising for enrolment through the Internet has become an important means of enrolment promotion in Chinese universities. However, there is currently no clear research conclusion on how to conduct effective advertising, especially on the selection of factors such as promotion time, promotion platform, and promotion targets. Based on the construal level theory, this study investigated the effects of different types of college enrolment advertising on different new media platforms, using different dimensions of psychological distance corresponding to factors such as promotional time and promotional area. The empirical results show that different advertising types do have significant effect differences on different …

Harnessing The Power Of Video Ads, Linyi Li

Asian Management Insights

In digital advertising, video ads as a top-of-funnel function have a longer-lasting efect than display and search ads on a consumer's consciousness.

Social Media: Enabling Touchpoints Beyond Advertising, Kapil R. Tuli, Sheetal Bhardwaj

Asian Management Insights

An effective customer service platform and a strategic communication channel.

Ethical Branding In A Divided World: How Political Orientation Motivates Reactions To Marketplace Transgressions, Thomas Allard, Brent Mcferran

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In today's marketplace, users (e.g., purchasers, influencers) are increasingly the “face” of brands to potential consumers, increasing the risk for brands should these users act poorly. Across seven studies, we document that political orientation moderates the desire for punishment toward users of ethical (vs. conventional) brands who commit moral transgressions. In response to identical marketplace transgressions, we observe that liberals punish ethical brand users less than conventional brand users. In contrast, conservatives punish the same users of ethical brands more than conventional brand users. We document that this bias stems from how people interpret the inconsistency between the ethical branding …

Digital Red Packets And The Power Of Sharing Online, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Research study finds that digital red packets are most useful as a tool for companies to gain new and retain existing customers when they are allowed to be shared on social media

Go Ueber: Start With Ideals, Jp Kuehlwein, Wolf Schaefer

Asian Management Insights

Brands become ‘Ueber’ when they create meaning beyond the purely material and logical aspects. They do not merely represent a commercial proposition, but an aspirational value that consumers want to buy into. They lead their categories and their fans into the future, based on clear convictions and ideals. But they also play a larger role within the company. They are no longer seen as mere marketing instruments to attract consumers. They are embraced as a guiding force for the entire enterprise to inspire and engage all stakeholders inside and outside.

Lokotopia: Expansion To China Doesn’T Have To Be A Gamble, Yiqing Pin Cai

MSc in Innovation Capstone Projects

Addressed the problem of Southeast Asian brands to enter the China market, reviewed existing market solutions, presented their solution which was tested through global Chinese consumers. Introduced LOKOTOPIA services, with some cases for market validation.

Negative Reviews, Positive Impact: Consumer Empathetic Responding To Unfair Word Of Mouth, Thomas Allard, Lea H. Dunn, Katherine White

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This research documents how negative reviews, when perceived as unfair, can activate feelings of empathy toward firms that have been wronged. Six studies and four supplemental experiments provide converging evidence that this experienced empathy for the firm motivates supportive consumer responses such as paying higher purchase prices and reporting increased patronage intentions. Importantly, this research highlights factors that can increase or decrease empathy toward a firm. For instance, adopting the reviewer's perspective when evaluating an unfair negative review can reduce positive consumer responses to a firm, whereas conditions that enhance the ability to experience empathy-such as when reviews are highly …

Luxuriously Succeeding In China, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

To succeed, luxury brands in China must speak to the aspirations and yearnings of young Chinese and help them become a “better me"

Platform As Brands: The Inbuilt Potential And Perils, Jp Kuehlwein

Asian Management Insights

Rethink brand building through the concept of platform brands. Their key tenets—participation, personalisation and shared purpose—lay the foundation for transforming a brand.

Gender And Racial Diversity In Commercial Brands’ Advertising Images On Social Media, Jisun An, Haewoon Kwak

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Gender and racial diversity in the mediated images from the media shape our perception of different demographic groups. In this work, we investigate gender and racial diversity of 85,957 advertising images shared by the 73 top international brands on Instagram and Facebook. We hope that our analyses give guidelines on how to build a fully automated watchdog for gender and racial diversity in online advertisements.

Optimizing Impression Counts For Outdoor Advertising, Yipeng Zhang, Yuchen Li, Zhifeng Bao, Songsong Mo, Ping Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper we propose and study the problem of optimizing theinfluence of outdoor advertising (ad) when impression counts aretaken into consideration. Given a database U of billboards, each ofwhich has a location and a non-uniform cost, a trajectory databaseT and a budget B, it aims to find a set of billboards that has themaximum influence under the budget. In line with the advertisingconsumer behavior studies, we adopt the logistic function to takeinto account the impression counts of an ad (placed at differentbillboards) to a user trajectory when defining the influence measurement. However, this poses two challenges: (1) our problemis …

Crazy Rich Asians: Bringing Americans To Singapore, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

The Singapore Tourism Board hit jackpot with the film, but is Hollywood's depiction of the island accurate?

Building The Green Movement, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Changing hearts and minds on plastics is key to a green future. Businesses can take the lead

“Woke” Advertising And The Best Men Can Be, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Gillette’s latest ad has generated lots of conversation. But has the world’s largest shaving products brand lost more than it has gained?

Men’S Cosmetics: Challenging Conventional Marketing Wisdom, Dae Ryun Chang

Asian Management Insights

The marketing of men’s cosmetics is challenging conventional wisdom in Asia.

Men and beauty seem to be two contradictory domains because we often rely on an outdated assumption that men only want to appear manly and nothing more. The reality for modern men, however, is significantly different from that perception.

It’S All About The Commercial Experience, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

Making the buying experience enjoyable is key to success in the smartphone era

Hard Discounters: Underestimate At Your Own Peril, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

A combination of high quality products and low prices have beaten Walmart twice; hard discounters are coming for Asia

Motivations To Engage In Word Of Mouth From Non-Market Participants: A Study Using Automotive Business As The Field Of Investigation, Yao Han Kwan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Word of mouth (WOM) can have significant impacts on businesses. Positive WOM can go a long way in helping to grow a brand while negative WOM may cause considerable damages. Managers have constantly attempted to actively manage WOM but often find it difficult to control. Extensive academic research has also been conducted in this field, with a significant amount of literature built up over the last few decades. The advent of the Internet, social media and consequently electronic WOM (eWOM) further intensified practice and research interest in this area.

Despite decades of research and managerial precepts about WOM, the full …

Bling And Breakfast At Tiffany’S: Refreshing A 181-Year-Old Brand, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

‘Everyday luxury’ brings the venerable American luxury brand to a younger audience. Embracing digital marketing and social media is key to cultivating a new generation of lifelong customers

Trajectory-Driven Influential Billboard Placement, Ping Zhang, Zhifeng Bao, Yuchen Li, Guoliang Li, Yipeng Zhang, Zhiyong Peng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper we propose and study the problem of trajectory-driven influential billboard placement: given a set of billboards U (each with a location and a cost), a database of trajectories T and a budget L, find a set of billboards within the budget to influence the largest number of trajectories. One core challenge is to identify and reduce the overlap of the influence from different billboards to the same trajectories, while keeping the budget constraint into consideration. We show that this problem is NP-hard and present an enumeration based algorithm with (1−1/e) approximation ratio. However, the enumeration should be …

How A Blender Smashed The Secret Of Going Viral, Singapore Management University

Perspectives@SMU

A $50 campaign gained six million YouTube views in five days.